North Yorkshire Council

 

North Yorkshire Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education

 

9th April 2024

 

   Working Party re SACRE Self-Assessment Toolkit

 

Report of the Clerk

 

1.            PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1          To seek nominations to a further Working Party on the SACRE Self-Assessment Toolkit.

 

2.            KEY BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 

2.1          For the particular benefit of recently appointed Members, a toolkit has been created by NASACRE (The National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education) to help SACREs in their essential role to advise the Local Authority in meeting the entitlement of pupils across the Local Authority to engage in high quality Religious Education and Collective Worship and to support the Local Authority to reflect on its practice.

 

2.2          The toolkit focuses on five aspects of the work of SACREs:-

 

Ø   Management of the SACRE and building the partnership between the SACRE, the Local Authority and other key stakeholders

Ø   Promoting improvement in the standards, the quality of teaching, and provision in Religious Education

Ø   Evaluating the effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus

Ø   Promoting improvement in the provision and quality of collective worship

Ø   Contributing to cohesion across the community and the promotion of social and racial harmony

 

2.3          Last September, a Working Party, comprising the Chair, Councillor Alyson Baker, Professor John Adams and Dr. Abhijeet Kulkarni, met to examine the second of the five aspects – Promoting involvement in the standards, the quality of teaching and provision in Religious Education.

 

2.4          Officer support was provided by Olivia Seymour, Professional Religious Education Adviser, Heather Russell, Senior Education Adviser and Patrick Duffy and Owen Griffiths from Democratic Services.  Professor Adams was unable to attend but helpfully provided his comments in advance of the discussion.

 

2.5           The findings of the Working Party were presented to the meeting of SACRE on 19th September 2023.

 

2.6          This report seeks nominations from Members to work through one of the other aspects. It is suggested that this be Promoting involvement in the provision and quality of collective worship.

 

2.7       In terms of time commitment from Members, the Working Party would meet online and, based on the previous Working Party, it is anticipated that the discussion would last no longer than one hour.

 

3          FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

3.1       There are no direct financial implications.

 

4              LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

4.1          There are no direct legal implications.

 

5              EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

 

5.1         There are no direct equalities implications.

 

6              CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

 

6.1          There are no direct climate change implications.

 

7              RECOMMENDATION

 

7.1         That a further Working Party on the SACRE Self Assessment Toolkit be established and that Members consider being on the Working Party.

 

 

Author and presenter

 

Edward Maxwell, Senior Democratic Services Officer and Clerk to North Yorkshire SACRE

Edward.Maxwell@northyorks.gov.uk

 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS relied upon in the preparation of this report – None

 

NOTE:  Members are invited to contact the author(s) in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.